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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. --- University of New Mexico head men’s basketball coach Craig Neal has announced that 6-10, 250 pound center J.J. N’Ganga (en GONG a) out of Northwest Oklahoma College-Townaka. N’Ganga will be a junior with two years of eligibility.

“We are very excited to have J.J. in our program,” said Craig Neal. “He is a high caliber player, and his junior college statistics don’t really showcase the type of player that he is. He has only been playing basketball for a few years. He is a strong academic student that will fit in well here at the University of New Mexico, and he is a very dedicated student-athlete.”

N’Ganga is a native of Aubersvilliers, France and played his prep ball at Sunrise Christian Academy in Bel Aire, Kansas. Despite battling injuries over the past two seasons, He put up solid number in 2013-14. In 32 games (31 starts), he averaged 6.0 points and 5.4 rebound per game, shooting .468 from the field (73-156), .294 from three (5-17) and .636 from the line (42-66) as NOCT went 19-14 last season.

J.J. (which stands for Jean-Jacques) also added 24 assists and 23 blocked shots. As a freshman, N’Ganga averaged 3.5 points and 3.6 rebounds per game while shooting .581 from the floor. He played just 16 games that season due to an injury.

His coach Donnie Jackson described him to Geoff Grammer of the Albuquerque Journal as “a high-major player”. N’Ganga joins incoming freshman post play Joe Furstinger and guard Xavier Adams for the 2014-15 season. N’Ganga

N’Ganga was awarded the Hays Scholarship at Northern Oklahoma College-Townaka, which is presented to the basketball player with the highest grade point average.